Murray Polner (March 15, 1928 – May 30, 2019) was an American editor and author. He was the founding editor of ''

Present Tense The present tense (abbreviated or ) is a grammatical tense whose principal function is to locate a situation or event in the present time. The present tense is used for actions which are happening now. In order to explain and understand present ...

'', a job he held for the entire two decades that the magazine was published. He was an

anti-Vietnam War Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War (before) or anti-Vietnam War movement (present) began with demonstrations in 1965 against the escalating role of the United States in the Vietnam War and grew into a broad social move ...

activist and a committed

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

Background and education

The child of Jewish immigrants from Russia, Polner grew up in the Brownsville neighborhoods of Brooklyn. He graduated from

Samuel J. Tilden High School Samuel J. Tilden High School is a New York City public high school in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York City. It was named for Samuel J. Tilden, the former governor of New York State and presidential candidate who, although carryin ...

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

(1950), earned an M.A. in history from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

(1976), and a Ph.D. from

Union Institute & University Union Institute & University (UI&U) is a private university in Cincinnati, Ohio. It specializes in limited residence and distance learning programs. The university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and operates satellite campuses ...

in Russian history (1972). He taught for 10 years in a high school in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, worked as an adjunct professor at several area colleges in the New York area, and served as executive assistant to

Harvey B. Scribner Harvey Bertram Scribner (July 7, 1914 – December 23, 2002) was an American educator and administrator who oversaw the voluntary integration of the Teaneck Public Schools in the mid-1960s. He also headed the Vermont Department of Education. ...

, the first chancellor of the New York City Public Schools. He served in the military in Japan during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. He moved to

Great Neck, New York Great Neck is a region on Long Island, New York, that covers a peninsula on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore and includes nine villages, among them Great Neck (village), New York, Great Neck, Great Neck Estates, New York, Great Neck Es ...

, in 1961 with his wife Louise (Greenwald) Polner, and lived there for the rest of his life. The Polners had three children, Beth Polner Abrahams, Robert Polner and Alex Polner.

Career

Polner was the editor of the magazine ''Present Tense'' from the time of its founding in 1973 until it ceased publication in 1990. He was the book review editor of

History News Network History News Network (HNN) at George Washington University is a platform for historians writing about current events. History History News Network (HNN) is a non-profit corporation registered in Washington DC. HNN was founded by Richard Shenkman ...

until 2017.

Political views

Polner was a

, although he allowed that the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

was a difficult case, "It's the hardest question of all," he said, "and I'm not sure there's an answer." He was a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

Books

*''No Victory Parades: The Return of the Vietnam Veteran'' (1970) *''When Can I Come Home? a Debate on Amnesty for Exiles, Antiwar Prisoners, and Others'' (1972) *''Rabbi: The American Experience, (1977). *''Branch Rickey: A Biography'', (1982) *''Disarmed and Dangerous: The Radical Lives and Times of Daniel and Philip Berrigan, the militant anti-war priests'', (2007). with co-author Jim O'Grady *''We Who Dared to Say No to War: American Antiwar Writing from 1812 to Now'', (2008) with Thomas E. Woods Jr.

Edited books

*''The Challenge of Shalom: The Jewish Tradition of Peace & Justice'', (1994) co-edited with Naomi Goodman * ''Peace, Justice, and Jews: Reclaiming Our Tradition'', (2007) co-edited with Stefan Merken

References

External links

Murray Polner papers
held by th
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polner, Murray American political writers American magazine editors 20th-century American Jews American people of Russian-Jewish descent 1928 births 2019 deaths 21st-century American Jews